Is this an extra special early one that I could of seen promo photo's of but for example there were not many avalliable to the public?:shock:

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Hi Dave,
I don't know if it was available to the public (i have never seen this version btw), maybe Richard will know but it must be a very early one, it also says "double line" whereas the ones i have and seen dont mention double line. The early catalogue (1996) i had were not double line versions so i assume double line versions are older (pre-catalogue)

I now have a double line Pure Drive and a double line Soft Drive with the same original double line cover.

ps: this DL pure drive is 20grams lighter then the normal one, very surprising!

The last weeks and months i've received quite some mails about the the first Babolats, well here it is.
I know many of you don't think they are classics, well i do and that's why i want it to post here.
I will start with the first "Pure" series developed between 1994 and 1996.
These first generation Babolat rackets were made in Taiwan, Thailand and China.

Babolat Pure Drive
Babolat Pure Control
Babolat Pure Power

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I had the Pure Drive and Pure Control when they came out. To me they were hard on the wrist. I sold them both. Wish I would have kept them now.

here a (cell phone) photo of a Pure Drive generation 1 with different specs:

280gr unstrung
34mm balance

To be continued... (will post a lot more later this week in better quality)

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Wonderful, ericsson! Thanks for sharing. I saw an original Pure Drive listed as 280g some time ago, and I couldn't figure out at all what that was about. It wasn't a Soft Drive pj for sure and I assume the guy got the specs wrong! Never knew the earliest ones have different specs closer to the Soft's, now I understand.

Wonderful, ericsson! Thanks for sharing. I saw an original Pure Drive listed as 280g some time ago, and I couldn't figure out at all what that was about. It wasn't a Soft Drive pj for sure and I assume the guy got the specs wrong! Never knew the earliest ones have different specs closer to the Soft's, now I understand.

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Hi MS, yes the early ones were slightly lighter and the paintjob slightly different, the blue is brighter:

Fantastico Thanks
The double line ones are the very first ones?
So the Soft and Pure Drives had almost the same specs...

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The double lines are amongst the first ones but not all paintjobs, will talk about it more later on...

Yes almost but as i mentioned earlier, the construction is the most important thing that is different as the Soft Drive contains fiberglass.
Here a picture of the first Soft Drive (used by Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal in his younger years)

Way awesome ericsson. Thanks for sharing! The slightly brighter cosmetics look great to me. Now, I'd be hoping to pick up one of these 280g Pure Drive's sometime. Btw, I simply love how the Soft Drive plays, have always enjoyed the feel of frames with fiberglass. Leaded up of course as it's too light in stock form.

Way awesome ericsson. Thanks for sharing! The slightly brighter cosmetics look great to me. Now, I'd be hoping to pick up one of these 280g Pure Drive's sometime. Btw, I simply love how the Soft Drive plays, have always enjoyed the feel of frames with fiberglass. Leaded up of course as it's too light in stock form.

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Yes you are right! the Soft Drive is an excellent light stick, it plays so easy.
Fiberglass is a great material, i also love it.

The double lines are amongst the first ones but not all paintjobs, will talk about it more later on...

Yes almost but as i mentioned earlier, the construction is the most important thing that is different as the Soft Drive contains fiberglass.
Here a picture of the first Soft Drive (used by Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal in his younger years)

A lot more pics to come so stay tuned...

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Do you have the strung specs for this racket?? Weight, Swingweight, Headsize, Balance, etc??

Hi J, hope all is well
Yes you're correct, Pete used this string in his early years, later he used the very thin VS 1.22

I think this was the first all weather coated VS gut. (1988 )

Note that Boris Becker used the VS "Uncoated" during his career...

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you could still buy the little bottles of coating in France in the mid 90s, can't imagine being bothered to apply the stuff these days.
I had forgotten about that soft control, lovely looking frame you have a very nice collection.